The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-10-05


lority. however, favoring its passage. and
the minority asking for more light, and
another investigation. 1t passed the Sen
ate and went 70 the House, and was referred
to the Committee of Ways and Means: they
reported 1t back without any recommenda-
non at all, and then II passed. 40 yeas and
80 nays; and IS absent and not voting So
Il became the law of the land; and until its
repeal II constitutes, by its own force and
slSor, without reference 70 the truth or
lnsuce OF the case, the State, n debtor To
me University TO the amount of $544.OsI.-
-, leaving an unadjusted balance of 81.
'Vp'eVo, TO he recognized hereafter, as has
oeen explained. Il is a maxim Of philoso-
PuSes mat nothing can come from moth
~, or as the Romans expressed IL "ex
ilhilo nj Potsst gigni.H But this had rela
aon only TO the laws of nature as fixed bv
uod, and not to actions OF omnipotent Leg
lsia'ures who may create debts where moth
ing Is due, or even when the debt is the
other way, else this act of creation OF a
aeot OF tins large amount wonld be as futile
= tls attempt OF aspiring men TO create q
world out of nonentity.
HOW this particular sum of $544. .06I. "a
was arrived at. when according TO the Uni
VersI1y pamphlet about $2,0oO,OOO was due.
| Is matter which remains unexoiaiuea.
II must have required an immense
power of arithmetical prestdigitation thus
TO accommodate to the very odd cents this
enormous claim of the University and
bring It withinthe limits of the needs of
that Institution, as set forth in the memo
rial of the Trustees-and yet not offend
| the patient forhearance of the Legislature.
The Committee seems to have relied on a
statement made by Col. BrougheF, bat this
was not put on the Journals, nor printed nor
even preserved; and what is more to be de-
| plored, IN case Of that sort, all memory of
| Its contents and its methods. its processes
and its figures, its principles and its data,
Is gone forever-not only from the mind
OF its author but of the Committee who
acted on II. have applied to Col Brough-
er and he remembers nothing except the
| fact that he made IL, "only that and
nothing more" | applied to the Chair
man of the Senate Committee and got
nothing from him. applied to the Chair
nan of the House Committee (remember,
| that the Committee was joint onel and
got nothing lsee Mr.. McWillie's letter here
| appended as exhibit FL. l applied to Prof.
| Aayes, Chairman of the Faculty of the
| University, for a copy of Col. Brougher's
| statement and the report of the Commit
| tees, and If these could not be had, for the
data on which the law of 1850 rests, and
for such other information on these sub
1 lNtSN stN TIC WIS Willing 10 give III ItHAY 4
was informed that the Report and state
ment could not be found, even if they were
ever possessed by the University; but as
yet l have received no information as to
| the data on which the law of 1850 rested.
| SO here again we have a suspension or abro-
| CATION of the laws of nature in favor of the
University. In the first instance, there was
a creation of something out of nothing; in
this we have complete humiliation (or loss)
| of something which once existed, and in adj
dition a destruction of all memory of it.
And thus it appears that this debt-creating
act of the Legislature has for its support a
| report from Committee which has for its
support the statement of Col. Brougher,
which has for its upport-nothing, Veri-
1y the ancient belief of the nursery, that the
world stood on the head of great serpent
which stood on the back of a great turtle
which stood on the-shadowy inane-"the
stuff that dreams are made of''-is not so
unreasonable after all. (See ID. p. Porter's
letter, Exhibit G
Still we are not wholly without foot
prints by which we can trace out the path
| the accountant trod.
In the letter of Hon. G. b. Howry, we
learn that Col. Brougher was about to pro-
ceed on the true basis of charging the State
only with what she had realized from the
fund, disregarding the celebrated 11th sec
ton of the act of 1S43 (as l infer), after
its repeal. This Mr.. Howry objected To
! upon the ground shat the will of one Leg
islature as to how much interest the State
should pay, ought not to be disregarded by
, the Committee of another Legislature
In this, Mr.. Howry stated the rule correct
l ly; but he made the wrong application Of
= it, if he intended to be understood as stat
. ing that Col. Brougher should proceed un
: der the act of 1S43, not only during tn,
e time the llth section of that act was IL
!. force, but also after its repeal by the act o
f 184S, as before explained. And he made
>, further wrong application of it if he intend
II ed to instruct Col. Brougher to apply th'
@ 11th section of the act of 1S43 to any othe
l. sum than the amount named in 1t, tn
# money paid into the State Treasury. Gen
?. tainly Col. Brougher must have proceede
e on these wrong applications; for in no othe
/ way could he reach the result reported b
d him.
r announce my distinct adherence to th
70 principle stated by Mr. Howry that
10 committee of a subsequent Legislature, i
l. making an investigation of this sort,
d ascertain a debt, i. e., an obligation du
e by law, are bound by all the law on th
d subject, and that they ought to report
d strict accordance with the law as 1t exlste
+ at the time of their action, of course gIvln
i effect to all prior acts or laws not then
S existence as to transactions done unde
f them. And this is exactly what was n
2 done On the contrary, the will of tn
T Legislature of 1S48 repeating the 11th sec
g ton of the act of 1843, and substitutin
e instead of compound interest at per cen
2 simple interest at 6 per cent, was who'll
k ignored, and the act of ls43, continued i
n and applied to an amount about four time
r greater than allowed by that act.
It The committee instead of ascertainin
70 the condition of the fund under the Law
" ascertained what, IN THgIR OPINION, I
r, OUGHT TO BE.
y We have some further footprints in tn
t preamble to the law as it passed. In tn
n preamble, the Office of which is to state tn
o object or reason for enacting the law, an
d the occasion of the enactment, two tunda
n mental errors are committed, and the
e being wrong, the whole fabric based o
n them is wrong.
g 1. That in the act of 1893, directin
the sale of the lands the Legislature di
IS rected that the proceeds should "be re
d turned to the Treasury" The act express
e ly and scrupulously DIRECTED TIE CONTRACT
l. and provided that it should be invested a
II | DSIOFe ADlhInGur anu hNBk VBhANSD H-
e distinct from the States money. The Leg
n islature, under the Constitution, as befor
= explained, had no power to direct that
.e should be placed in the Treasury, WITH
n VIEW OF USING AND PAYING INTEREST ON Il
k for that would be borrowing the none.
n and they were expressly prohibited froI
3. doing that.
1. @ That the State did collect the pro
J. ceeds arising from the sale of the lands
20 1888, and had never accounted for th
al same. The State did not collect the pr
70 ceeds of said sale. She collected only
al small portion of them, and has full
4 accounted for all she did collect, and pal
s. many hundreds of thousands of dollal
d more. See note =.
t. But if these two propositions, which al
IS both unfounded, were strictly true, eve
If then, the State has paid to the Universit
le more than all these sums and interest, as
J. have shown. There is no mode known
T, me of making out any Indebtedness againi
le the State on account of this fund, e1ceI
p on the following false basis, even If "
)t consider that the whole amount of the sale
was chargeable to the State, when 1t fe
/ due, and that not one dollar of it was eve
d lost, viz:
4 l. That the State should pay compoun
-e interest at per cent. on all or create
le portion of this fund, not collected by
1t when she never agreed to pay that intereE
1t on any part of it except which was actual
!" paid into the Treasury; and, I'd, That thi
n compound interest should be paid fc
J. thirty-two years after the statute authors
sr ing it was repealed, and another mode {
a. computing interest prescribed.
II If there be such mode let the account
g stated authoritatively, showing the prime
n pies and data on which it is based. hay
ID shown that have made due inquiry as
y these from the persons most likely to know
10 and failed to obtain them.